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Washington, D.C. — RFE/RL welcomed the release from prison of Turkmen contributor Khudayberdy Allashov and his mother while noting that another RFE/RL journalist remains in prison and other correspondents continue to be subject to attacks because of their reporting.

RFE/RL President Thomas Kent said, “We are thrilled that Khudayberdy is out of prison, but remain deeply concerned about our colleague Saparmamed Nepeskuliev,” an RFE/RL contributor who has been held virtually incommunicado since July 2015. “Turkmenistan has taken an important step,” Kent said. “Now the government has an opportunity to establish a new standard by releasing Saparmamed and ending its unjust campaign against independent journalism.”

Reliable sources in Turkmenistan told RFE/RL on February 22 that Allashov and his mother were released on February 15 after a court convicted them of possessing chewing tobacco and handed each a three-year suspended prison sentence. Both are currently at home in the northern city of Koneurgench and under police surveillance. They are not allowed to use any communication tools, the sources told RFE/RL.

Allashov’s arrest in early December was part of a three-year campaign carried out by Turkmen authorities targeting RFE/RL’s local network of reporters. It followed three separate physical attacks in November 2016 on veteran RFE/RL contributor Soltan Achilova, and a threat made that same month against correspondent Rovshen Yazmuhamedov to impose a suspended jail sentence he received in 2013 in connection with his journalism. Nepeskuliev’s 2015 arrest on narcotics charges, widely believed by rights groups to have been fabricated in retaliation for his video reporting, followed an 18-month period during which no fewer than six RFE/RL correspondents left their jobs as a result of intimidation tactics used against them and their family members.

The United States, the OSCE, and media advocacy organizations have condemned Turkmenistan’s persecution of journalists. Turkmenistan is ranked 198th out of 199 countries surveyed in Freedom House’s 2016 Freedom of the Press report, ahead only of North Korea.

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Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty is a private, independent international news organization whose programs — radio, Internet, television, and mobile — reach influential audiences in 23 countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus. It is funded by the U.S. Congress through the BBG.

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Contributor, RFE/RL Turkmen ServiceAllashov and his mother were apprehended on charges of possessing chewing tobacco in Turkmenistan’s northern Dashoguz province on December 3, 2016. They were released after 2.5 months in detention.